A
Presentation of the Walker Art Center in
Association with IMSOM
Kinsmen/Svajanam
Featuring
Kadri Gopalnath and Rudresh Mahanthappa
Friday, 16 November, 8
PM
|

|
Tickets:
Please
note:
IMSOM
member passes cannot be used at this event. Instead, a special
discount ($4) is available to IMSOM members.
Purchase
tickets online. $25 ($21 for IMSOM members) |
About the Artists:
Kadri
Gopalnath:
He was born in Panemangalore, in Dakshina Kannada
district (Karnataka,
South India) in 1950. He acquired a taste for music from his father,
Thaniappa,
who was a nagaswaram vidwan. Young Gopalnath once saw the saxophone
being
played in the Mysore palace band set. It took him nearly 20 years for
him to
conquer the complex western wind instrument and he was eventually
crowned
as the "Saxophone Chakravarthy." His achievement is especially
laudatory,
as Gopalnath had to make certain improvisations to the conventional
Saxophone
instrument in order to play Carnatic music. So perfect has this
adaptation
been that no less a musician than Shemmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, the doyen
of Indian Music, has acknowledged Kadri Gopalnath as a true Carnatic
music
genius.
Gopalnath learnt playing Carnatic music on the
saxophone under Gopalkrishna
Iyer of Kalaniketana, Mangalore. His dedication and tireless efforts
enabled
him to imbibe all the nuances of Carnatic music and the sax. In Madras,
Gopalnath came in contact with the versatile mridangist T.V.
Gopalkrishnan
who identified the youngster’s potential and chiseled him into an
internationally
famed artist.
His maiden performance was for the Chembai Memorial
Trust. It was a
roaring success. 1980: Jazz festival, Bombay was a turning point for
Gopalnath.
At the festival was present John Handy, a famous Jazz musician from
California.
Hearing Gopalnath play, Handy asked if he could go on stage and perform
alongside with him. So good did the two artist synchronize on stage,
Handy
in the Jazz style and Gopalnath in the Carnatic style, that it became
an
instant hit with the audience. And thus was born, fusion music on the
Saxophone!
Gopalnath has participated in the Jazz Festival in Prague, Berlin
Jazz Festival, International Cervantino Festival in Mexico,
Music Halle Festival in Paris, the BBC Promenade
concert in 1994
at London and has toured extensively all over the world, performing in
all prestigious music venues in India and abroad.
Rudresh Mahanthappa:
Guggenheim fellow Rudresh Mahanthappa is one of the most innovative
young musicians and composers in jazz today. Named a Rising Star of the
alto saxophone by the Downbeat International Critics Poll for the past
four years, #2 in 2006, Rudresh has incorporated the culture of his
Indian ancestry and has fused myriad influences to create a truly
groundbreaking artistic vision. As a performer, he leads/co-leads seven
groups to critical acclaim. His most recent release for Pi Recordings
Codebook (September 26, 2006) was named one of the Top Jazz Albums of
2006 by The Village Voice, Jazztimes, and The Denver Post to name only
a few and received rave reviews from Downbeat, Jazztimes, wired.com and
Science Magazine. In Europe, Codebook received the “Choc” (highest)
rating in France’s Jazzman, 4 stars in the UK’s Jazzwise, and received
the “Bollino di Marzo” from Italy’s Musica Jazz. This album also
reached #7 on US jazz radio charts and #1 on Canadian jazz radio
charts. His previous quartet recording Mother Tongue on Pi Recordings
(US release 2004, international release 2005) received 4 stars in
DOWNBEAT and was named one of Top Ten Jazz CDs of 2004 by the Chicago
Tribune, Jazztimes, Coda, All About Jazz, and Jazzmatazz and was
additionally recognized as one of the top jazz albums of 2005 by
several European publications including the UK’s Jazz Review. As a
saxophonist, Mahanthappa has achieved international recognition
performing regularly at jazz festivals and clubs worldwide. He has also
worked as a sideman with such jazz luminaries as David Murray, Steve
Coleman, Jack DeJohnette, Samir Chatterjee, Von Freeman, Tim Hagans,
Fareed Haque, Vijay Iyer, Howard Levy, David Liebman, Greg Osby, and
Dr. Lonnie Smith. As a composer, Rudresh has received commission grants
from the Rockefeller Foundation MAP Fund, American Composers Forum,
Chamber Music America, and the New York State Council on the Arts to
develop new work. Mahanthappa holds a Bachelors of Music Degree in jazz
performance from Berklee College of Music and a Masters of Music degree
in jazz composition from Chicago's DePaul University. He now teaches at
The New School University. Rudresh Mahanthappa currently lives in New
York where he is clearly regarded as an important and influential voice
in the jazz world. Rudresh uses Vandoren reeds exclusively. Mahanthappa
is also a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow.
A.
Kanyakumari: She hails from Vijayanagaram, a cultural hub in the
South Indian
state of Andhrapradesh. Her tryst with the violin began at a very early
age during when she came under the tutelage of Vijayaswara Rao and
later
from M. Chandrasekharan. The watershed in her career came in 1972, when
her musical genius was given due recognition by the late Dr. M.L.
Vasantha
Kumari (MLV). Kanyakumari went on to accompany MLV on her concert tours
for the next 19 years.
During her 1980 US tour, a Minneapolis violin
collector who was amongst
the audience, struck by her sterling performance, presented Kanyakumari
with a violin from her collection. In 1990 Kanyakumari performed at the
Tansen Utsav in NewDelhi. The celebrated Hindustani
musician Ustad
Amjad Ali Khan after hearing Kanyakumari's concert, in a rare gesture,
draped her with the same shawl that he was honored with on the same
stage.
She has also accompanied besides MLV, flautist
Dr. N. Ramani, vocalist
Dr. M. Balamurali Krishna, Mandolin Srinivas and mridangist T.V.
Gopalakrishnan.
For the past 10 years, Kanyakumari has also been organizing concert
tours
in India under the banner of Vadyalahiri: an instrumental
ensemble
comprising a rare combination of the nadaswaram, violin and the
veena.
In 1988, Kanyakumari performed a rare feat at the
Padmanabhaswamy
temple in Kerala, India. She played the violin for 29 continuous
hours,
an unofficial world record. Commemorating Kanyakumari's 25 years in
concerts,
M.S. Subbalakshmi honored her with the title Dhanurveena Praveena.
Kanyakumari
offers free violin tuition in Madras. Prasanna, a carnatic guitarist
and
Embar Kannan are two of her students who are already making waves in
the
Carnatic music circle.
Vadyalahiri and 25 Violins are
amongst the discs that
Kanyakumari has recorded.
Rez Abbasi:
Born on the
Indian sub-continent,
removed at the age of four to the driving sounds of Southern
California, schooled at the University of Southern California and the
Manhattan School of Music in jazz and classical music, as well as a
pilgrimage in India under the tutorial of master percussionist, Ustad
Alla Rakha, Rez Abbasi is a vivid synthesis of all the above stated
influences and genres.
Rez Abbasi is considered by many to be one of the
foremost modern jazz guitar players on todays scene. He has developed a
unique sound both as a composer and an instrumentalist and has honed
his skills with performances through out the world including multiple
tours in Europe, Canada, the U.S., Mexico, and India. He has
performed and recorded with many greats including, Grammy winner Ruth
Brown, Peter Erskine, Kenny Werner, Barre Phillips, Tim Hagans, Marc
Johnson, Billy Hart, Marvin 'Smitty' Smith, Gary Thomas, Rick Margitza,
DD Jackson, Dave Douglas, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Tony Malaby, George
Brooks, Pandit Ronu Majumdar, Pandit Kadri Gopalnath, Pandit Vishwa
Mohan Bhatt, Greg Osby and a host of others.
Among
Rez's other creative projects is his long-standing association with
bassist David Phillips, drummer Tony Moreno and alto saxophonist John
O'Gallagher in the highly acclaimed, collective ensemble, "Freedance".
Rez is also musical director and producer for Indian/Canadian Juno
winning vocalist Kiran Ahluwalia's ensemble. He also plays an integral
role in Rudresh Mahanthappa’s Indo-Pak Trio and Dakshani Ensemble, Dave
Pietro's Quintet plus Sunny Jain's Collective among others.
With five albums of original compositions under his belt, Abbasi
continues to garner new groups of musicians to help his musical vision
come to life.
Carlo De Rosa:
Since moving to New York City in 1993 Carlo De
Rosa has had the opportunity to work with many great artists in the
Latin and Jazz World. This has led to diverse musical and cultural
experiences and has allowed Carlo to work with a wide variety of
artists such as Ray Barretto, Ravi Coltrane, William Cepeda, Vijay
Iyer, Bruce Barth, Ed Thigpen, Nick Brignola, Mickey Roker, Steve
Turre, Miguel Zenon, Hilton Ruiz, Ralph Alessi, Candido Camero, Jason
Moran, Papo Vasquez and the NYC Ballet.
He currently collaborates and performs with many other great artists
including: Allison Miller, Ingrid Jensen, Sam Newsome, Rudresh
Mahanthappa, Mark Shim, Luis Perdomo, Dave Allen, Chembo Corniel,
Lucian Ban, Andrea Brachfeld, Amir ElSaffar, and Victor Prieto.
As a US Jazz Ambassador in 1999 Carlo traveled to South Africa,
Mauritius, Madagascar, Kenya, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. Other
performances abroad have led him to countries as varied as France,
Germany, Spain, Portugal, Estonia, Russia, Switzerland, Italy, Austria,
Holland, Belgium, Czech Republic, Argentina, Chile, Romania, Slovenia,
Denmark and Ireland.
His New York Club engagements have included the Blue Note, Birdland,
Zinc Bar, 55 Bar, Smalls, Visiones, Fat Cat, Knitting Factory, Detour,
Smoke, Kavehaz, Sweet Rhythm, Jazz Standard, Nuyorican Poet’s
Café, Tonic, Satalla, CBGB’s Lounge, Barbès, Zebulon,
Iridium, Cornelia Street Café, Makor and the Jazz Gallery.
Outside of NYC Carlo has performed in venues such as: the Painted
Bride, Ortlieb’s Jazzhaus, Chris' Jazz Cafe and the Deer Head Inn (PA);
One Step Down, Blues Alley, Twins, and the Kennedy Center (DC);
Justin’s and the Rosendale Café (NY); Churchill Grounds Jazz
Café (GA); Firefly Café (MI.) and Scullers (MA).
Since earning his Masters Degree at Manhattan School of Music he has
developed teaching affiliations with the Drummers Collective, National
Guitar Workshop, Henry Street Settlement and Long Island University.
Proficient, creative, clearly an in demand bassist, Carlo De Rosa is
earning a reputation of very high standards.
Poovalur Sriji:
He is a prolific
composer, performer, and educator, who studied South Indian Classical
music from
his father P.A. Venkataraman. For over three decades Poovalur has
performed with the leading artist from both South and North Indian
Classical traditions. Since his move to the United States, Poovalur has
performed and recorded with artists such as Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Bela
Fleck, Mark O’ Connor, John Bergamo, Glen Velez, to name a few.
Poovalur
has composed several pieces portraying the South Indian idioms.
Poovalur has received several awards from leading institutions, and the
album Tabula Rasa, where he has composed and performed with Bela Fleck,
V. M. Bhatt, and J.P. Chen was nominated for a Grammy. He is the
founding member of the group 'Brahma.'
He founded and directs the 'SNEW' and the 'South Indian Cross Cultural
Ensemble'. He is currently on the faculty at the University of North
Texas.
He has taught at Calarts and the San Diego State University.
royal hartigan:
He
is a percussionist who has studied and performed the musics of Asia,
Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas, including indigenous
West African drumming, dance, song, and highlife; Turkish bendir frame
drum; Japanese taiko drumming; Philippine kulintang gong and drum
ensemble; Chinese Beijing, Cantonese, and Kunqu opera percussion; South
Indian solkattu rhythms; Korean Nong ak drum and gong ensemble;
Javanese and Sumatran gamelan; Gaelic bodhran; Native American
drumming; Dominican merengue; Brazilian samba; Cambodian sampho drums
and Vietnamese clapper percussion, European symphony; and African
American blues, gospel, funk, hip-hop, and jazz traditions.
He obtained the AB degree in Philosophy from St. Michael's
College in 1968, the BA degree in African American music from the
University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1981, and the MA and the Ph.D
degrees in world music from Wesleyan University in 1983 and 1986
respectively.
He has taught ethnomusicology, African drumming, and world music
ensemble at the New School for Social Research in New York and the
Graduate Liberal Studies Program at Wesleyan University. royal helped
develop and taught graduate and undergraduate courses in world music,
large and small jazz ensembles, experimental music ensemble, Asian
music ensembles (Philippine kulintang and Javanese gamelan), African
American music history, and West African drumming and dance at San Jose
State University before assuming a position as Assistant Professor in
world music at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. He has
taught Music Theory and Fundamentals, Western Music history, and
Introduction to World Music. He currently teaches music of the African
Diaspora, area studies, and World Music Survey. He has served on the
music department curriculum development, the CVPA lecture series, and
the University Cultural Diversity committees as well as initiating
grants for numerous workshops and concerts of world music during the
1999-2000 academic year.
He has performed, given workshops, and recorded internationally with
his own quartet (Blood Drum Spirit, 1997 and Ancestors 2000), Juba
(Look on the Rainbow 1987), Talking Drums (Talking Drums, 1985 and
Someday Catch, Someday Down, 1987) the Fred Ho Afro-Asian Music
Ensemble (We Refuse to Be Used and Song for Manong, 1988, Underground
Railroad to My Heart, 1994, Monkey Epic:Part 1, 1996,Turn Pain Into
Power, 1997, Monkey Epic Part 2, 1997, Yes Means Yes, No Means No!
1998, Night Vision 2000), Hafez Modirzadeh's Paradox Ensemble
(Chromodal Discourse, 1993 and The Peoples Blues, 1996, The Mystery of
Sama 1998), the David Bindman-Tyrone Henderson Project (Strawman Dance,
1993 Iliana's Dance, 1996), and Nathaniel Mackey (Songs of the
Andoumboulou, 1995). He has released a documentary and artistic video
of his work in West Africa and its relation to the African American
music cultures.
|
About the Venue:
The McGuire Theater is within the Walker Art Center,
which is located in Minneapolis at 1750 Hennepin Avenue, where Lyndale
and Hennepin avenues merge. Please
visit this page for directions.
Acknowledgments:
This
IMSOM activity is made
possible, in part, by funds provided by the Metropolitan Regional Arts
Council's (MRAC) "Arts Activities Support (AAS)" Grant through an
appropriation by the Minnesota state legislature, the Honeywell
Foundation's "Dollars for Doers"
Grant, and IMSOM Members. This concert is co-sponsored by KFAI Radio
(90.3FM in Minneapolis / 106.7FM in St. Paul ).


For further information contact:
Back
|
|